GB2289151A - Identification of livestock - Google Patents

Abstract

An identification tag for an animal for use in a national livestock registration and movement control system, comprises a tag plate (10) permanently attached to the animal (14) and bearing a code identifying the animal and comprising a bar code (20) and a corresponding alphanumeric code (22). <IMAGE>

Description

IDENTIFICATION OF LIVESTOCK This invention relates to the identification of livestock, especially in agriculture and associated industries such as the slaughtering industry. In particular, it relates to methods of animal identification using a tag which is attached to a part of the animal, usually the ear, and which carries identifying information; and to identification methods in which such tags are employed.

It has been usual hitherto for such tags (referred to for convenience in this specification as ID tags) to carry an alphanumeric code, consisting of up to nine characters.

For local identification purposes, e.g. within a particular herd or farm, this has been generally adequate.

There is however a growing need, now being reinforced by legislation, for a system whereby the movement of any given animal within a particular geographical area can be tracked. Such a geographical area may be very large, and the systems now contemplated require that the existence and movement of every animal within certain classes (e.g.

cattle, sheep, pigs) which is raised for commercial purposes, such as meat production or breeding, shall be registered in a central register for the area concerned.

The whereabouts of the animal at any given time must then be ascertainable by making a positive and unique identification which can be achieved by reading the animal's ID tag and then comparing the reading with the central record, which is readily susceptible to being computerised if required.

An animal may pass through a number of hands, and be moved between a number of locations, between the holding on which it was born and its death, in a slaughterhouse or otherwise. Thus, it must be able to be identified easily and in most cases very quickly - at any location where it may be, e.g. on farms, in markets and at stock sales, and at the slaughterhouse itself. It is important that such easy identification can be made by many different types of people, such as farmers, government officials, veterinary surgeons, auctioneers, prospective purchasers, and so on.

The geographical area concerned may consist of the whole of one country, or indeed a group of countries. One example of such a group is the European Union.

In order to identify a single animal uniquely within such a large area, an identification code (ID code) of some complexity is inevitably required, and currently it is proposed that ID tags for use in the proposed system mentioned above, using a central record, shall bear a 13 or 14 digit alphanumeric code. Such a code, read visually from the tag, is time-consuming to enter manually on a record, especially when large numbers of animals are involved; and mistakes can easily be made, especially when, for example, the code is being read by a person who may be tired and who has to read many such codes successively, perhaps under severe weather conditions or when the animals concerned are restless and it is not easy to see all the tags perfectly.

According to the invention in a first aspect, an identification tag for an animal comprises a tag plate adapted to be permanently attached to the animal and bearing a code identifying the animal and comprising a bar code.

The bar code would be applied to the tag plate in permanent form by the manufacturer of the tag, and can be read by anybody having a conventional bar code scanning device.

Such scanners are available in a convenient portable form, for use in conjunction with a personal computer having the appropriate software for interpreting the output signal from the scanner. Such a computer can be linked to the computerised central register, and can therefore supply to the latter instant information about the whereabouts of the animal concerned.

It will be understood that, in the context of a nationwide animal tracking or monitoring system, such a facility, not involving visual reading of alphanumeric codes and keying of these into the computer, not only helps to keep movement records up to date rapidly, but is also likely to eliminate many human errors.

Preferably, however the tag plate does also carry a alphanumeric code, which can be resorted to in the event, for example, of failure of the bar code scanner or any other electronic equipment. The alphanumeric code can also be used to double-check any doubtful data entries derived from the bar code itself.

Accordingly, in another aspect, the invention provides a method of identifying an animal which includes applying a bar code to a tag according the first aspect of the invention, securing the tag to the animal, and reading the bar code by means of a bar code reading device so that the reading from the latter can be compared with a pre-existing record to identify the animal.

The bar code will contain enough information to identify the animal uniquely within predetermined geographical limits, and may typically comprise of up to about 16 digits.

It will be realised that, even with the use of bar codes according to the invention, individual farmers do not need to use a computer at all unless they wish to. They can continue to rely upon visual identification of the alphanumeric codes, with associated "manual" records. This can be an advantage to a farmer on a smallholding.

However, to many farmers the facility for a wholly computerised identification system can prove of great advantage in terms of improved ease of operation and efficiency. Similar advantages will clearly be evident to the staff at markets, auction houses, slaughterhouses, and to veterinary surgeons and government officials.

An overall advantage of the system lies in its essential simplicity, combined with great flexibility and the fact that it is wholly compatible with a conventional alphanumeric system.

As to the construction of the tag according to the invention itself, this may be of any known type already commercially available, in which the tag is adapted for permanent attachment to the animal. However, according to a preferred feature of the invention, the tag plate includes a transparent element such that the identifying code is protected by and visible through the transparent element. The bar code may be printed directly on the tag plate, or on the back of this transparent element.

According to a further preferred feature of the invention, the tag comprises a tag member consisting of the tag plate and a spigot projecting from the back of the latter, to extend through, and be secured to, the animals ear.

The tag preferably also includes a separate retaining member adapted to be non-realeasably secured on the free end of the spigot, so as to secure the tag member to the ear, the tag member being freely rotatable in the retaining member.

The tag member and retaining member preferably include cooperating means for restricting the rotation of the tag member to an arc of predetermined magnitude, such that the bar code can be easily read regardless of the attitude of the animal's head, e.g. when it is impossible for the person reading the code to hold his scanner more than momentarily within range of the tag.

One tag according to the invention will now be described, by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a front view of an ID tag according to the invention attached to the ear of an animal such as a cow; Figure 2 is a side view of the tag; Figure 3 on a larger scale, is a cross section taken on a line III-III in Figure 4; and Figure 4 is a side view of part of the tag with its retaining member (retainer) shown in cross section taken on the line IV-IV in Figure 3.

The drawings show an identification tag comprising a tag plate 10 and a retaining member 12, permanently attached to an ear 14 of a cow. The tag plate 10 comprises a flat plate element 16 of moulded plastics material with a cylindrical spigot 18 projecting from its back face close to its top end. The spigot 18 passes through the ear 14 and is secured by the retainer 12.

The front face of the plate element 16 has a bar code 20, and an alphanumeric code 22 which is equivalent to the bar code, together constituting a single unique identifying code for the animal in two alternative forms, printed directly on it. A protective transparent element 24, of a suitable tough plastics material (such as that known by the trade mark MELANEX) is applied over the ID code 20, 22 so as to protect the latter, and is heat sealed to the plate element 16 around its entire periphery as indicated at 26.

The code may alternatively be printed on the back of the cover 24.

A space 27 may be left blank on the front face of the plate element 16, for insertion of any further information about the animal that may be required. The cover 24 protects the panel 28 carrying the codes from weather and mechanical and/or chemical damage.

Figures 3 and 4 show one possible form of construction for the tag. The spigot 12, here of injection moulded plastics, has a coaxial bore 30 in which the spigot 18 fits and in which the latter is freely rotatable. The spigot 18 has a conical free end 32 carrying a deformable peripheral lip 34, which engages against an abutment surface 36 in a peripheral groove 38 formed in a conical end portion 40 of the bore 30. The lip 34 is such that, on insertion of the spigot 18, the lip deforms against the conical end 32, and when the spigot is fully inserted the lip relaxes into engagement with the surface 36, so as to prevent axial escape of the spigot 18 from the bore 30.

In this embodiment, the bore 30 is formed with a small inwardly-projecting stop element 42 for engagement by stop surfaces 44 at the ends of a coaxial peripheral groove 46 formed externally on the spigot 18 over an arc of a circle, such that the element 42 and surfaces 44 cooperate to limit the rotation of the spigot 18 in the bore 30 to an arc of a circle of predetermined magnitude, which in this example is a little less than 1800. Two positions of swing of the tag plate 10 within this arc are indicated in phantom lines in Figure 1. Such swing will be caused by, for example, the animal's ear meeting an obstruction, and the tag plate will normally return by gravity to the vertical position shown in full lines in Figure 1.

It will of course be understood that the ID tag may be constructed in any other convenient way.

The bar code is preferably formulated on the EAN 128 system. Its size and type are such as to allow reading to be carried out at a distance, for example with the scanner being up to about 600mm away from the ID tag.

The scanner itself may be used in conjunction with a laser targeting device, to assist in aiming the scanner. The latter decodes the bar code, and is connected to a computer.

The scanner may be associated with, or incorporate, a keypad, so that if necessary the alphanumeric code 22 can be read visually and entered on the keypad, for transmission to the computer or display on a screen.

Claims (12)

1. An identification tag for an animal, comprising a tag plate adapted to be permanently to the animal and bearing a code identifying the animal and comprising a bar code.

2. A tag according to Claim 1, wherein the identifying code comprises a bar code and a corresponding alphanumeric code.

3. A tag according to Claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein the identifying code is printed directly on the tag plate.

4. A tag according to any one of the preceding Claims, wherein the tag plate includes a transparent element such that the identifying code is protected by and visible through the transparent element.

5. A tag according to Claim 4, wherein the bar code is printed on the back of the transparent element.

6. A tag according to any one of the preceding Claims, comprising a tag member consisting of the tag plate and a spigot projecting from the back of the latter, to extend through, and be secured to, the animal's ear.

7. A tag according to Claim 6, further comprising a separate retaining member, which is adapted to be nonreleasably secured on the free end of the spigot so as to secure the tag member to the ear, the tag member being freely rotatable in the retaining member.

8. A tag according to Claim 7, wherein the tag member and the retaining member include cooperating means for restricting the rotation of the tag member to an arc of predetermined magnitude.

9. An identification tag for an animal, substantially as described in the foregoing description with reference to the accompanying drawings.

10. A method of identifying an animal, including applying a bar code to a tag according to any one of the preceding Claims, securing the tag to the animal, and reading the bar code by means of a bar code reading device so that the reading from the latter can be compared with a pre-existing record to identify the animal.

11. A method according to Claim 10, wherein the bar code contains enough information to identify the animal uniquely within predetermined geographical limits.

12. A method of identifying an animal, substantially as described in the foregoing description with reference to the accompanying drawings.